Haiti, Nigeria, Cholera

"Haiti, Nigeria Battle Cholera"
Voice of America (October 26, 2010)

"Health providers and aid groups have mobilized to combat outbreaks of cholera in Haiti and Nigeria. Often causing extreme dysentery and dehydration, cholera arises from a strain of bacteria that is easily spread and hard to eradicate from infected zones. Cholera is a common after-effect of natural calamities.

"Ever since January's massive earthquake devastated Haiti, health officials have warned of the dangers of cholera. In a country where public sanitation infrastructure is poor to non-existent and clean drinking water is often hard to come by, more than 3,000 cholera cases and more than 250 deaths have been reported in recent weeks, mostly north of Port-au-Prince.

"Doctor John Andrus, Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization, spoke with reporters this week:

" 'People with low immunity, such as malnourished children or people with the HIV virus, are of greatest risk for death, if infected [with cholera],' said Andrus...."

Haiti and Nigeria aren't alone: There have been cholera outbreaks in Zimbabwe, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, too, according to the article.

The Lemming ran into the assertion that the earthquake in Haiti didn't cause cholera. True enough: the disease is caused by a bacteria. Roads, water handling systems, and buildings being destroyed by the earthquake in Haiti - and a great many folks who weren't killed having to move - in a country that was terribly poor to begin with - probably didn't help keep cholera from happening, either.

The Lemming is concentrating on Haiti - partly because it's closest to home; partly because it takes time to put together a list of charities; partly because quite a number of the outfits that help Haiti are interested in places around the world.

Related posts:

• "Haiti: It's Cholera"
  (October 24, 2010)
• "Haiti: First an Earthquake - Now - Cholera?"
  (October 22, 2010)

More about Haiti, including a list of charities:

• "Haiti: About the Earthquake, Relief, and Related Topics"

Nigerian Scam Took $150,000, and Friends

"Leamington man loses $150,000 in Nigerian scam"
The Windsor Star (January 14, 2009)

"A Leamington man has fallen prey to international scam artists who strung him along for more than a year with the promise of millions in cash, but ultimately bilked him and his family of $150,000.

"John Rempel said he quit his truck driving job, lost friends, borrowed money and crossed the globe in pursuit of a non-existent inheritance, after he was contacted by e-mail in what is known as a Nigerian 419 scam...."

Losing friends over a scam like this is something I haven't heard much about, but it does make sense. As the victim of this scam said: "I never get calls anymore from my friends. You know, a bad reputation." Sounds a bit like the old 'blame the victim' approach.

Mr. Rempel's experience is worth reading about, I think: particularly since you're likely to get 'wonderful' news like he did, sooner or later: or maybe on a regular basis. I've get pretty good spam-blocking with my email service, but just the same, some of those 30,000-a-day emails drop into my IN box.

The article goes into more detail than most, about how Mr. Rempel was scammed: You might learn something.

Hi, I'm One of Those Maghas! Nigerian Cyber Scammers and Wonderful Words

"Nigerian Cyber Scammers"
Los Angeles Times (October 20, 2005)

I love language. That's why I was annoyed at losing a rather fine word, a few years ago. I heard it, in a discussion of the Nigerian Scam (you know: you get a message from someone who wants you to help him/her move millions of dollars - all you have to do is send your bank access numbers).

The word meant 'stupid white person,' more or less. And, for quite a while I couldn't find it. That changed today.

A news article from 2005 said that most people, sensibly, ignore those daft come-ons, but that "the few who actually reply make this a tempting and lucrative business for the boys of Festac, a neighborhood of Lagos at the center of the cyber-scam universe. The targets are called maghas — scammer slang from a Yoruba word meaning fool, and refers to gullible white people.

"The e-mail scammers here prefer hitting Americans, whom they see as rich and easy to fool. They rationalize the crime by telling themselves there are no real victims: Maghas are avaricious and complicit."

Aside from satisfying my desire to re-discover "maghas," that article is a good look at one scammer sub-culture. Although it is, admittedly from a maghas point of view.